1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicular safety. More specifically, the present invention relates to a novel one piece woven airbag that results in airbag systems that are smaller, more compact, lighter-weight, and less expensive to produce than previous airbags.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inflatable safety restraints or airbags enjoy widespread acceptance as passive passenger restraints for use in motor vehicles. Airbags have built a reputation of preventing numerous deaths and injuries over the years of development, testing, and use. Studies show that in some instances, the use of frontally placed vehicular airbags can reduce the number of fatalities in head-on collisions by 25% among drivers using seat belts and by more than 30% among unbelted drivers. Other statistics suggest that in a frontal collision, the combination of a seat belt and an airbag can reduce the incidence of serious chest injuries by 65% and the incidence of serious head injuries by up to 75%. These numbers and the thousands of prevented injuries they represent demonstrate the life saving potential of airbags and the need to encourage their use, production, and development.
In part as a result of the benefits such as those described above, automakers are now required to install airbags in most new vehicles manufactured for sale in the United States. Many automobile manufacturers have turned this airbag technology requirement into a marketing tool. Enticed by the promise of added safety, vehicle purchasers frequently seek out vehicles with sophisticated airbag systems.
Airbags are often installed in the steering wheel and in the dashboard on the passenger's side of the car. These airbags are often thick and dense because airbags are used for the primary deceleration of a vehicle occupant. In a large percentage of collisions the occupant is accelerated forward within the vehicle. Frontal airbags are generally constructed to inflate toward the vehicle occupant, often with significant force.
Such frontal airbags are generally housed within the dashboard, steering wheel, or other similar interior panels of a vehicle, and are covered by a trim cover panel. The trim cover panel covers the compartment that contains the airbag module. Such airbag covers are typically made of rigid plastic, and are made to open by the pressure from the deploying airbag. During deployment of the airbag, it is preferable to retain the airbag cover in at least partial attachment to the vehicle to prevent the airbag cover from flying loose in the passenger compartment. If the airbag cover were allowed to detach and freely move into the passenger compartment, it could cause injury to a passenger.
Airbags are generally linked to a control system within the vehicle that triggers their initiation when a collision occurs. This control system is often referred to as an electronic control unit (or “ECU”). The ECU includes a sensor that continuously monitors the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle. This information is sent to a processor which processes it using an algorithm to determine if a deceleration experienced by the vehicle is a collision or not. If this accelerometer measures an abnormal deceleration, such as one caused by a collision event, it triggers the ignition of an airbag inflator.
When the processor of the ECU determines, based on a set of pre-determined criteria, that the vehicle is experiencing a collision, the ECU transmits an electrical current to an initiator assembly. The initiator assembly is in turn connected to an inflator that is coupled to the airbag module. The initiator activates the inflator. An inflator is a gas generator that typically uses a compressed or liquefied gas or mixture of gases, a solid fuel, or some combination of the two, to rapidly generate a large volume of inflation gas. This inflation gas is then channeled, often through a segment of specialized tubing called a gas guide, to the airbag. The gas inflates the airbag, allowing it to absorb the impact of the vehicle occupants and thus protecting them from impact against the steering column, the windshield, or the instrument panel.
As experience with the manufacturer and use of airbags has progressed, the engineering challenges in their design, construction, and use have become better understood. For example, airbags are currently designed to be large and bulky, based in part on the assumption that such size is needed in order to provide the airbag with the sufficient structural integrity so that the airbag does not overly deflate or compress during a crash due to the force of the occupant impact. However, problems have been noted to occur with such large and bulky airbags in that they can often be difficult to install in vehicles such as small or compact models where space in the passenger compartment is at a premium.
Moreover, such large and bulky airbags often require multiple or complex inflator units in order to guarantee that the airbag with promptly and properly inflate during a crash. These large and bulky inflators create additional problems because not only do they further increase the size and complexity of the airbag system, but are often also very expensive. More importantly, multiple and complex inflators can be very difficult to assemble, install, or repair, thereby increasing the likelihood that an airbag system will malfunction during a crash due to improper installation.
Furthermore, using a large and bulky airbag often raises the production costs of the vehicle significantly. As the size of the airbag increases, more and more packaging must be bought and used to adequately house the airbag system. Moreover, as large and bulky airbags are often difficult to work with, the labor and other costs associated with folding, assembling, and installing the airbag are also increased. Such increases in costs are extremely important because in the competitive automobile industry, even slight increases in costs can greatly affect the overall profit margin on a mass-produced vehicle.
Finally, large and bulky airbags are often very massive and heavy, which in turn has the disadvantage of increasing the overall weight of the vehicle. Vehicle weight is a crucial component in vehicle design because increases in the weight of the vehicle may correspond to a decrease in qualities important to consumers such as fuel economy, acceleration, and overall handling. As such, large and bulky airbag systems often mean that manufacturers must make difficult decisions as to whether the increased safety provided by airbags is worth the decrease in vehicle performance and customer satisfaction.
Accordingly, it would be an advancement in the art to create a novel airbag system that is lighter, smaller, and more compact that the previously known airbag systems, yet still provides the occupant with ample impact protection during a crash. It would be another advancement to provide a new airbag that would lower the overall cost associated with adding an airbag to a vehicle. Additionally, it would be an advancement to create an airbag that required less folding or other assembly procedures during production. It would be a further advancement to produce an airbag that did not require the use of multiple or complex inflators in order to insure that the airbag fully inflated during a crash.